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Multiplying by 3

I have 4 tubs of 3 pencils. How many pencils do I have in total?

4 tubs of 3 pencils

There are 3 in each group so I can work out the answer as a repeated addition.

3+3+3+3 = 12

Another way to write this is 4 groups of 3.

As a number sentence this is 4 x 3 = 12

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Example 1

Here are 5 triangles.

Each triangle has 3 sides, how many sides are there all together?

5 triangles.

The repeated addition is 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 +3 = 15

The multiplication sentence is 5 x 3 = 15

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Dividing by 3

When we say divide by 3 we mean we are sharing an amount or number into 3 equal groups.

Example 2

I have 6 marbles and I want to share or divide them by 3 people.

Divided by 3 people means putting 6 marbles into 3 equal groups.

6 marbles

I take one marble at a time and move them into each group, making sure each group has the same amount.

Once the whole amount has been shared equally, how many are in each group?

6 marbles shared between 3

There are 2 marbles in each group.

6梅3 = 2

Example 3

Take a look at the bar model. How could you work out the missing values?

Bar model showing 18, divided into 3 sections

The whole number is 18 so this is at the top.

The bottom has been split into 3 equal groups that make up 18.

Let鈥檚 share 18 counters into three groups to help.

3 groups of 6

The counters have been shared equally each 3 groups and each group has 6 counters.

18 梅 3 = 6

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Activity

Quiz

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